Monthly Archives: July 2016

Well, there are two classes of writers in the world today. There are the titans…Steven King, George R.R. Martin, Gregory Maguire, John Updike…you get the idea. The writers that are well known, easy to find in your local Barns & Noble.

Then there is the other group. The mighty not-so-titanish…Angela B. Chrysler, C. L. Schneider, Shane Wilson and even yours truly, Ed Ireland. These names are not lighting up Barns & Noble.

But that’s ok. We write because we love to write. Kind of like the titans did before they were fitted with the fabulous lifestyles that demand new stories every day. At least that’s how we console ourselves. And let’s call a spade a spade here. Any writer that says he or she doesn’t really want that kind of success…the J.K. Rowling kind…is full of it!

So, we have given ourselves our very own day. Indie Pride Day. The day that all independent writers gather in one voice and say “Goddamnit! I can write as good as they can! Where’s MY friggin’ contract???”

There are lots of great things going on today and tomorrow to celebrate that sorrowful voice in the darkness.

Over at Goodreads – a kind of support group for those writers – there are great meet-the-writer thingies happening every hour. You can find that here at Goodreads Book Blast hosted by a very sweet, hard-working lady named Angela.

Goodreads is a pretty good place to start if you actually want to support the world of Indie Writers. With more than 20 million members, you’ll find books, book reviews and general writer silliness to last you for years. So forget George Martin and his Throne Games…find an indie writer that speaks to your inner warrior…or romantic.

After all, some pretty big names started as indie writers. E.L. James – 50 Shades of Gray, John Grisham – A Time To Kill, Beatrix Potter – The Tales of Peter Rabbit just to name a few. Indie writers are not the lepers of the literary world, despite what the big publishing houses would have you think.

“I don’t need anybody to buy my books” said no indie writer ever. We need the book-reading world to do just that. Buy our books, read them and if you like them, be sure to talk about us. Leave reviews on Amazon or Goodreads and any other place you can think of. Spread the word.

Bring us in from the cold. Just think, you could be that one person that can say, “I read their book before anybody even knew who they were!” That’s gotta be a very cool thing to have for a conversation at a party.

And if it’s my books you’re talking about, you drop me a line and by gosh I’ll give you my phone number and you can call me from the party and I’ll verify it! Hell, tell me when and where and I’ll go to the party with you!